Man, dog rescued from burning Salisbury home

Nov. 25, 2013

Firefighters from all three Salisbury Fire stations put out this house fire in the 300 block of Cherry Way Sunday night after firefighters pulled Gordon Hitchcock, 76, a resident of the home, and a dog from the fire. Hitchcock is in critical condition at Johns Hopkins Bayview Burn Center in Baltimore. / Mark Filippelli photo

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Staff Writer

SALISBURY — Firefighters have rescued a man and a dog from a burning house on Cherry Way.

The man suffered severe burns to his hands and face and was rushed to Peninsula Regional Medical Center, said Jim Gladwell, assistant chief of the Salisbury Fire Department. He was unconscious when found, but emergency personnel quickly revived him.

The injured man is Gordon Hitchcock, 76, the Maryland Office of the State Fire Marshal said today. After being brought to PRMC, he was flown to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Burn Center in Baltimore in critical condition.

Firefighters also saved a dog, a 14-year-old mixed breed named Buddy.

“Found him huddled down in the bathroom,” Gladwell said. “Wasn’t his time yet.”

The dog had been blackened by soot and ash and needed to be revived as well when rescuers found him on their second sweep of the small house. He was given oxygen and appeared well enough to stay with his owner, who was at a neighbor’s house at the time of the blaze, Gladwell said.

When firefighters arrived at the 300 block of Cherry Way at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, flames were showing out of one of the front windows and at the side of the house, Gladwell said. It took about two minutes for rescuers to find the lone human occupant, a man staying with the house’s tenant, and drag him to safety.

Gladwell tentatively attributed the fire to a space heater. Official word will come from the state fire marshal’s office, he added.

As of 9:30 p.m., crews were still putting out hotspots in the house. A cascade of water could be seen pouring down the front facade. More than two dozen firefighters from all three city stations responded to the blaze, Gladwell said.